Bend’s Human Rights and Equity Commission chair said Wednesday that she wants the city to hold an emergency meeting to address how the city handled a claim of discrimination that slowed funding for this year’s Juneteenth celebration.
The city delayed a sponsorship payment to organizers of this year’s Juneteenth event over a post that an organizer had made on her personal Facebook account. The post drew a citizen complaint that caused senior city staff to mobilize and temporarily pause funding while they discussed what to do.
City Councilor Gina Franzosa expressed concern at the start of Wednesday’s City Council meeting, calling for a session that would allow the Human Rights and Equity Commission to give feedback to the council. She said the city invests significant money and time into training and setting goals to counter potential discrimination and bias.
“This seems to me to be a great opportunity to kind of demonstrate our awareness and I feel like we missed the mark on it,” Franzosa said.
Franzosa also expressed concern that the Human Rights and Equity Commission was not consulted by city staff when concerns arose around the Juneteenth event.
About a month before the celebration, Juneteenth organizer Joslyn Stanfield made a post on her personal Facebook page saying that white people who have tried to divide the Black community in years past or had been racist against Black people weren’t invited.
When a community member complained to Bend Mayor Melanie Kebler about the post, it kicked off a series of events that raised questions around race, equity and inclusion. The Juneteenth sponsorship money did eventually arrive from the city and the event was held successfully, but Stanfield said Bend staff failed to quickly communicate with her over their concerns.
Agatha Ventura, the head of the Human Rights and Equity Commission, echoed Franzosa’s concerns at Wednesday’s meeting.
“As an H-REC member and leader, I was confused when we had not received any question or information about the situation,” she said.
A main function of the commission is to help people find “resolution and assistance regarding complaints of discrimination in Bend,” which includes “potential violations of the City’s Equal Rights Ordinance.”
There was one potential opportunity for the commission to receive an update on the Juneteenth funding. The volunteer group had a regularly scheduled meeting on May 28, the day after City Manager Eric King held a discussion with staff in his office to assess Stanfield’s post.
Ventura said commissioners heard about the payment delay for the first time through OPB’s reporting, months after the issue had happened.
Bend’s equity and inclusion director, Andrés Portela III, confirmed he was not included in initial conversations about the post. King said previously that Portela hadn’t been brought in because staff considered a complaint about the Facebook post as a question of policy rather than an equity issue.
Portela said his role as the director of equity and inclusion is to help address the intersection of policy and lived experiences – including race, belonging and inclusion – for city staff and leaders.
After giving testimony, Ventura said she hoped to improve the way the equity commission and City Council work together to provide feedback. She requested an emergency meeting despite August being designated as a summer break for the commission.
On the dais, Mayor Kebler said the city is committed to Juneteenth and hopes to continue the conversation with the Human Rights and Equity Commission.
City staff offered to meet with Ventura and another member who gave public comment, but Ventura said she requested a full meeting with the commission. She has yet to receive a response.
Speaking at the meeting, King said the city did communicate with one of the organizers before Juneteenth. He also defended the city’s process of sending out the check. Public records and city emails show the sponsorship agreement was finalized on May 22, the same day the city received the complaint about the Facebook post. King said it typically takes seven to 10 days for an event sponsorship payment to be delivered once an agreement is finalized.
City staff eventually delivered that check at a June 6 meeting with Stanfield, where they confirmed with her that the event would be open to all attendees.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.